


Merry-Go-Round Spins On

by PuppetMaster55



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Gen, Reincarnation, the stan twins get reincarnated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25487770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuppetMaster55/pseuds/PuppetMaster55
Summary: The cycle continues, history repeating, always and forever
Relationships: Original Female Character(s) & Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

The first memory Aiko Nagachika had was of a world on fire. She was four years old, and she had looked at her father’s miniature zen garden, and screamed. 

Six years later, Aiko knew what she was. Five percent of the world was born with the Sight, the ability to see the invisible supernatural that populated the world in the wake of the Transcendence. She and her twin brother Satoshi were born in Athens, Georgia, in the year 1967 A.T., and she was the only one with the Sight for nearly fifty miles in any direction. It bothered her how little she knew about the Sight, and how few people there were with it. Why were so few people born with the Sight? What made them different from everybody else? 

“Wake up, wake up!” Aiko groaned and rolled over in her bed. It didn’t stop Satoshi from jumping on the bed. “Aiko! Today’s the day we go exploring in the woods. Come on!”

Aiko sat up, shoving Satoshi over. He bounced off the mattress and onto the floor with a thump. 

“Satoshi! Aiko!” Dad called from the kitchen. “Stop playing around and come get breakfast.”

“Daaaad~!” Satoshi whined, crawling toward the hallway. “Aiko shoved me off the bed.”

“You deserved it for jumping on my bed.” Aiko cried, and the twins could hear their father’s eyes roll. The twins ran out of the bedroom, away from their bunk beds. Like their father, they both had dark black hair, while they had their mother’s softer brown eyes. Aiko and Satoshi ran into the kitchen, plopping onto place at the table. Aiko spotted the plate of– “Pancakes!”

Satoshi practically climbed onto the table, piling his and Aiko’s plates high with mountainous stacks of pancakes. “Dad you _never_ make pancakes!”

Aiko squinted, even as she slathered butter on the mountain of pancakes. “Gran-gran isn’t coming, is she?” 

Dad laughed. “I just thought our two little detectives should celebrate going out for their first mystery.”

Aiko nodded, satisfied with the answer, cutting into the pancakes and taking a massive bite. She glanced over at Satoshi, who was already stuffing an entire pancake into his mouth. She swallowed, poking his pancake with her fork. “Today we’re gonna find a bigfoot!”

* * *

“That is one _big_ foot… print.” Satoshi hopped out of the foot-shaped crater, moving to the toes.

Aiko frowned, leaning down to stare at it. The print was nearly twenty feet long from toe to heel, a massive clue, and one they wouldn’t have found had Satoshi not tripped and fallen down into this ditch. 

“Yeah, but where’s the other footprints? It thunderstormed last night, so this must’ve been made between then and now. Was last night even a thunderstorm? Satoshi what do you think?” Aiko looked up to where Satoshi was skipping over the puddles of toe prints. He slipped, landing knee-deep in the big toe. “Satoshi!”

“Well well, look who it is.” Aiko shivered, helping Satoshi out of the big toe. Up at the edge of the ditch, Lars and his gang cast a shadow over everything. “The bug-eyed freak and her brother.”

Aiko’s glare faltered, looking anywhere but at the bullies. She could See that they meant every word. Satoshi leaped to her defense, raising a fist at Lars. “Hey! Just you wait, someday the two of us will be famous explorers, and where will you be, huh? Living out of your parents’ basement?” 

“Yeah, well, today ain’t that day,” Lars sniggered. “ ‘Sides, all I see is a bug-eyed freak playing in the mud, and a weirdo brother protecting her. What, the freak can’t protect herself?”

“Shut _up_ Lars!” Satoshi picked up a rock, tossing it at the bully. Lars and his friends ran off, laughing about bugs in mud. Aiko’s eyes stung with tears. Satoshi bent down, helping Aiko back up. “Hey, don’t listen to them. You’re awesome! You can see things no one else can’t, and that’s neat!”

Aiko nodded, scrubbing away the tears. “Yeah. Now let’s head home.”

“To clean up?” Satoshi glanced down at their mud-caked clothes. “Nah, I think we’re good. Now we look like _real_ adventurers!”

“I meant to study.” Aiko started to climb out of the ditch. If the thunder they heard last night was the giants’ footsteps, then all she needed to know was which direction the storm went. Then they could go back, follow the footsteps, and find the answer to this mystery. Where did the giants go when the storm stopped? How did they manage not to get seen during the storm? Where were they traveling to? What were they traveling _from_? All sorts of questions, and Aiko hated not having the answers. She had to know. 

“Aw, man! I hate studying.” Satoshi kicked at the ground, but followed his sister. “This is gonna help us be better explorers, right?” 

Aiko nodded, helping steady Satoshi when he slid. “Research can help us find all the answers.”


	2. Chapter 2

The bell rang, and everyone started getting up, slinging backpacks over shoulders. Third period was over, and Aiko was looking forward to fourth period lunch. Satoshi grinned from his spot to her left. At the front of the room, Fryll cleared her throat. “Nagachika.” Both twins perked up at hearing their names called. Satoshi looked sheepish while Aiko froze in place. She’d never been called on the class, so why would Fryll call on her _now_? Wait. Aiko glanced at Satoshi; Fryll might not have been calling on her. Satoshi must have thought the same, as he glanced at her. Behind her desk, Fryll sighed. “Aiko Nagachika. If you could please stay behind. I would like to speak with you.” 

Satoshi gave Aiko a reassuring look as he joined the bustle out the door. He mouthed _I’ll wait for you_. Aiko nodded, reassured. The door closed, and Aiko shifted in the empty classroom. Fryll gestured to a desk in the front row. “I assure you, it’s nothing bad. I just want to talk to you.” 

Mikaylah Fryll was a stout woman, and arguably the most eye-catching teacher in the entire school. With her shaved head and tattoos – many of which never stayed in the same place, flying and slithering and twisting their way over her body – Fryll looked like she belonged more at a transcendental rock concert than in a classroom. To Aiko, Fryll looked like the kind of person that everyone couldn’t help but love, all soft smiles and warm laughs and comfort. Aiko saw Fryll’s True Self as an unbelievably kind friend. 

Aiko pulled a desk chair closer to Fryll’s desk, sitting down with trepidation. “I-I-”

“It’s alright,” Fryll said, erasing the board clear of the class’s markings. “I just wanted to ask you if you’ve ever considered a career in the paranormal.” Aiko started, nearly dropping her backpack onto the floor. “I know fifteen is a bit young to start looking into your future, but reading over your papers I really think you’ve got potential. That paper you wrote about wood giants using thunderstorms to migrate? Rework it into something more professional, and you could publish it in _The American Journal of Paranormal_.”

Aiko really did drop her bag to the floor, staring at Fryll in shock. She hadn’t realized that nobody else had realized the connection between thunderstorms and sightings of wood giants. Still… “I-I hadn’t…”

Fryll gave Aiko a soft smile. “You could, if you wanted. Aiko, you have great potential as a paranormalist. Goodness knows we could use more people like you.” 

Aiko glanced at the door. “But… Satoshi and I…”

Fryll sighed. “I know. Twins like you remain close, but – Aiko, your brother… he’s more interested in the adventure than the solution. Paranormalists prefer to know things, but Satoshi is barely scraping by in my class – and I _do_ know he’s copying his notes off of you. It’s okay,” Fryll held up a hand when Aiko tried to protest. “I haven’t told anybody and I don’t plan to. If every teacher went after students whose notes and answers were similar, well. Schools would be a lot more empty. But more to the point, I think you need to consider a life on your own. You can’t keep Satoshi afloat forever.” 

“I don’t keep Satoshi afloat!” Aiko protested, while Fryll opened a desk drawer. She pulled out a piece of paper, writing something down. 

“Here.” The paper was slid over to the far edge of the desk, and Aiko picked it up. It had a date – November 15, 1974 – and a description of… “A convention?”

“There’s a paranormalists convention set to be hosted in the area on that date. If you like, I can call up a friend and have them set you up to present one of your theories.”

“But-but that’s so far out.” Aiko couldn’t have anything presentable by then. She didn’t even know if she would still want to be a– no, no she knew. She wanted answers, and the only way to get them was to be a paranormalist. She always wanted to study the paranormal. 

“You don’t have to answer right away,” Fryll said. “You’ve got just under two years to decide. The convention always has a couple spots open for up and coming people and students that want to present their theories and findings. Who knows, you could be the next Charlotte Marlow.”

“Who?” Aiko hadn’t heard of that name. 

“Marlow lived about 1250 A.T.” Fryll explained. “She was the one to discover how to combine magic with technology. Completely changed everything we know about runic enchantments and space travel. Without her, the sky cities of Venus wouldn’t exist.”

“Really?” Aiko hadn’t known that – their history class was still going through Earth before the Transcendence. 

“She was the same kind of brilliant I can see in you.” Fryll nodded. “Now go. Eat lunch while you still can. And really think about this opportunity.” 

Aiko nodded, stuffing the paper into her backpack. Outside, Satoshi was leaning against the lockers. He perked up as she left the classroom. “Hey! So what did she want with you?”

“Oh, she just wanted…” Aiko trailed off, then shrugged. “You know. Participation credits.”

“Really?” Satoshi groaned. “Veidt’s economics class is bad enough. You didn’t get chewed out too badly, right?” 

“Nothing like that,” Aiko assured her twin. “Just wanted to touch base. Offered a couple extra credit stuff I can do to make up for it. That kind of stuff.” 

Satoshi nodded as they rounded a corner, entering the cafeteria. “That’s good. Great, even. You could use–”

He oofed as someone bumped into him, knocking Satoshi to the floor. Aiko reached down to help her brother up when she was tripped over as well. “Look at that. Two bugs crawling on the floor. Somebody better call an exterminator.” 

Aiko glared, face burning red with anger, and opened her mouth to retort when she noticed how the surrounding tables had quieted off, nearly two dozen students now paying attention to her. Aiko could see their interest, their curiosity and dismissal and pity and apathy. She tried to speak, but only made a soft wheezing sound. 

Lars’ grin only got bigger. “What was that?” He made an exaggerated motion of lifting a hand to his ear. “I couldn’t catch that. Mind speaking up?” 

Aiko felt more anger, closing her mouth and glaring as she got back up. One hand balled into a fist, but before she could lift it Satoshi blithely reached up and grabbed Lars by the elbow. “If you’re so interested in the floor, why don’t you get back on your level.” In one move, Satoshi pulled himself up to his feet – and Lars down onto the floor. “There. That’s much better. Wouldn’t you agree, Lars?” 

Lars’ face reddened, but before he could retort Satoshi was already pulling Aiko toward the cafeteria line. She pulled out of Satoshi’s grip. “You didn’t have to do that. I could handle it.”

“You’re one of the top people in our class,” Satoshi replied. “You punch him, you’ll get suspended. Then where would we be?” 

“I can still defend myself, Satoshi,” Aiko protested. “I don’t need you by my side defending me all the time.”

Satoshi sighed. “I know. But you don’t have – and I say this with all the gentleness I can – Aiko you can get… tunnel vision.”

“Tunnel vision,” Aiko dryly repeated. She laughed. “Demon calling the Zombie soulless, much?”

“I will have you know that I don’t have tunnel vision,” Satoshi defended, picking up two trays. The two of them moved down the line. “I am a perfectly–”

“Benson Aubrey?” Aiko teased. “Carla Shaver? Or would you like to talk about those posters of the Himalayas, Everglades, the Pyramids, and the Alps covering your bedroom? Little brother, you have a tunnel vision for love and adventure as much as I have a tunnel vision for my passions.”

“Speaking of,” Satoshi said, holding out his tray for a spoonful of mashed something – the menu and cafeteria servers _said_ it was mashed potatoes but the student body didn’t believe it. “What kind of extra credit was Fryll talking about? Nothing too bad, I hope.” 

Aiko thought about the paper in her backpack, of presenting her theories to actual paranormalists, getting published in scientific journals. “It’s nothing, really. Just a research paper.”

Satoshi groaned, fake-swooning. “Oh, not the dreaded research paper!” 

Aiko laughed, swatting at Satoshi and pushing the line along. As soon as they paid for their lunch, the sooner she could avoid thinking about a life without her twin by her side.


	3. Chapter 3

Aiko hunted through the stacks, on the search for a paranormal book she hadn’t read. The Clark County Public Library was small, but their paranormal section was almost a whole shelf, featuring everything from demonology to biographies to… “Scouts’ Guide to the Cult of Dippingsauce?”

She squinted at the new arrival, at the glittery embossed cover, and put it back. Whatever that was, it wasn’t something that Aiko would ever show interest in. After a moment’s thought, she grabbed the guidebook and climbed to the top shelf, slipping the book into the shadow of two massive encyclopedias. To keep Satoshi from finding it. Despite how she had to climb up to the top shelf to hide it from his view. Aiko planted her feet back on the ground, just in time to avoid a heavy leatherbound hardback as it toppled down. Instead of hitting her on the head, five pounds of biography bounced off her shin and onto her left foot. 

She clutched at her leg, falling onto the book with a thump that earned a half-hearted glare from the librarian behind the check-out. Aiko waved, pulling at the book and hefting it so the librarian could see it, then made an elaborate gesture that she hoped explained what happened and didn’t mean that she was climbing up to get the book and fell. The librarian let out a long-suffering sigh, and went back to their own thing. Aiko punched the air in success, then crawled into a sitting position. Whatever book had tried to cripple her, she at least deserved to know what it was called. 

The cover was a soft rusty brown, the overall book looking like it was a journal. The cover had gold lettering: _Ford Pines, A Biography_. The O’s were replaced with six-fingered hands, which was odd. The name did ring a bell, though. Out of curiosity, Aiko set the book on the floor, letting the covers fall to the side. The pages fell to each side, and Aiko was left staring at page 618, The Supernatural Origin Theory. “What is this…”

She picked up the book, reading through the theory. Dr. Pines had considered that there was some dimension connected to ours, some pathway that connected the world to one filled with gnomes, wood giants, unicorns, fairies, gremloblins, manotaurs, and multibears. He had found the epicenter of it all – Gravity Falls, Oregon – and was searching for some way into that dimension, the place where all supernatural and paranormal originated from. 

Aiko grinned. This sounded _exactly_ like the kind of thing she was looking for. Getting to her feet, Aiko bustled past the only other person in the library – an older-looking teen with pale hair and dark sunglasses – and headed to check-out the biography. Whoever this Ford Pines was, Aiko needed to learn more about his Origin Theory. She had a feeling that this was her ticket into the paranormal.

* * *

Breathe, Aiko repeated. Just breathe. It was just an announcement – of the most important thing in her life, but still. Just an announcement. Nothing to get nervous about. 

Which was why Aiko was bent over the sink, Satoshi pouring a cup of water over her head. The anxiety of telling her family that she was going to be at a convention was something that she knew, logically, was going to be okay, but the anxiety remained. She took deep, steadying breaths, Satoshi rubbed circles on her back. Aiko felt comforted that her brother was there, helping her, when he had no clue what she was anxious about. Granted, she had a pretty good grip on her anxiety, but still. Here she was, fifteen years old, with a mild general anxiety disorder, her brother still supporting her. She knew he was ready to make the announcement for her, be her voice, but she couldn’t do that. Becoming a paranormalist was not something she wanted to have happen while relying on Satoshi to do all the talking. 

Pushing up, Aiko gulped down air. She took the towel Satoshi offered her and wrapped it around her hair. She took another breath. “I’m ready.”

Satoshi nodded, and led the way into the living room, where Dad was waiting. Aiko sat between them, squished in the middle of the couch. “So… I signed up to–to do a thing. Talk.”

Dad nodded. Satoshi leaned forward, interested. Aiko took a calming breath. If she really was doing this, then best to let it all out at once. “Next fall there’s going to be a paranormalists convention in Atlanta and they have these open panels for young up-and-comers to talk about their theories and Fryll – the paranormal teacher at school – she asked me last year since it’s in my file that I have a thing and I said yes.” She let out a breath. “I… said yes.” 

Dad reached out, rubbing between Aiko’s shoulder blades. “Okay. That's–that’s great. Your brother and I are so happy for you. If there’s anything, anything at all, it’s alright to ask us for help.”

Aiko grinned. “Well, there’s a couple reference books I wanted the library to order from another branch…”


End file.
